Surgeon General Nominee Gets Grilling

July 12, 2007 -- President Bush's nominee to be the next surgeon general
said Thursday he would resign if the Bush administration tried to exert
political pressure over the health advice he gives to the public.

The comments come two days after the last surgeon general, Richard Carmona,
MD, testified on Capitol Hill that his reports and medical advice on a range of
issues from smoking to contraception were repeatedly stifled by White House
political officials.

James Holsinger, MD, the nominee to succeed Carmona, faced tough questioning
from lawmakers in his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. Senators, mostly
Democrats, grilled Holsinger on a range of issues, including his willingness to
deliver scientifically based health advice.

"The Office of the Surgeon General has become a morass of shameful
political manipulation and distortion of science," said Sen. Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., the chair of the Senate Health and Education Committee.

Holsinger told lawmakers he would try to educate political higher-ups about
the best available science if they were trying to influence him.

"Quite candidly, if I were unable to do that and I were being
overridden, if necessary, I would resign," he said.

Nomination Uncertain

While the answer seemed to satisfy some of the administration's critics,
Holsinger's nomination is still in flux.

Holsinger hit an immediate roadblock because of a 1991 paper he wrote
labeling male homosexuality as pathological. The paper focuses on physical
injuries that can result when men have sex with men, and gay rights groups have
attacked Holsinger for basing the review on a narrow selection of scientific
papers.

"This misuse of science gravely concerns me," Kennedy said during
the hearings.

Holsinger defended the paper as a nonscientific review for a religious
organization. He also strived to assure lawmakers that he was not bigoted
against gays.

"I have a deep, deep appreciation for the essential humanity of everyone
regardless of their personal circumstances or their sexual
orientation."

Opposition and Support

A day before the hearing, the American Public Health Association said it
opposes Holsinger's nomination. "We cannot support a nominee with
discredited and non-evidence-based views on sexuality," Georges Benjamin,
MD, the group's executive director, wrote in a letter to Congress.